Ash's Advanced Journey
by IamBusenburg
Summary: My retelling of Ash's adventures starting with Hoenn. Ash will meet and make new friends and enemies along the way. He will be equipped with more information, more pokemon, and a slight maturity boost. Even with this upgrade to him, will he be able to stop Teams Aqua and Magma from destroying the face of the earth? There will be a mix of anime and game characters.
1. The Journey Continues

**What's up guys and gals, Busenburg here! I want to welcome you to my retelling of Ash's adventures beginning with Hoenn. I know, I know, it isn't an uncommon story, but every retelling is made unique by the person writing it. With that said, I hope y'all give this a try. Fair warning, I am not terribly great at writing the beginning of stories. It has always been hard for me to get a story started, with that said I aim to get better with each chapter. Well, enough of my rambling, please enjoy this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer – I don't own pokemon.**

* * *

 **The Journey Continues**

It's been a few days since the end of his journey through Johto with Brock and Misty, the emotions of the day they went their separate ways still very real to him. Ash laid in his bed, the gifts from his friends laying on his nightstand and Pikachu asleep next to him. He had been spending his time with his mom, his pokemon, and at Professor Oak's lab, but he had gotten to a point where the urge for adventure was gnawing at him. The dilemma he faced with this wanderlust is that he wanted to be more prepared for his next adventure since he had decided this would be his first adventure without Misty or Brock traveling with him. He knew of the Hoenn region thanks to Harrison and knew that he wanted to go there, but he wanted to learn of the region first. By the time he made up his mind, the sun had set and night had fallen on the rural town of Pallet. Knowing that Professor Oak would be able to help, he decided, before he fell asleep, that he would visit the lab in the morning.

The sun rose early in the morning as Ash and Pikachu left for the lab. As he entered the lab, he ran into Tracey, who was organizing research for the Professor. "Hey Tracey!"

"Hey Ash," the pokemon watcher did his best to wave with his hands full, "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering where Professor Oak is." Pikachu nodded his head confirming this thought.

"He is out in the field doing research," Tracey, out of habit, motioned to the back doors.

"Thanks Trace!" Ash and Pikachu walked out to the field full of pokemon. The two spotted the older man observing a group of paras and approached him from behind, "Hey Professor, do you have any information on the Hoenn region?"

The older man, taken aback from not hearing Ash approach, turned to face the young trainer, "I have a bit Ash, what kind of information are you looking for?"

"I was hoping to learn about the Pokemon League and landmarks there, and what pokemon are in the region." Ash and Pikachu looked eagerly at the pokemon expert.

"Well, I unfortunately haven't had the privilege to study pokemon from the region, but I do have a colleague in Hoenn. I could ask him for more information on the region," the professor paused for a moment before asking a question of his own. "Ash, normally you just jump straight into a new adventure. Why are you gathering information on the region?"

The trainer thought for a moment before answering, "Well, I guess I want to plan my adventure beforehand and learn more about the pokemon I have; which brings me to another request I have."

"What is the request?" Oak looked at the trainer quizzically.

"Can you teach me more about pokemon?" The trainer and mouse looked with determination at the professor.

He stood there for a moment before a proud smile broke out on his face, "Absolutely Ash! Gary comes here every morning at eight. You can join him in his studies! You can also help Tracey in caring for the pokemon here at the lab!"

Ash and Pikachu jumped a good couple of feet in the air before yelling thanks at the older man and running home.

* * *

Ash entered his home and was met by the smell of his mom and her mr. mime making lunch. He immediately went to the kitchen to tell his mom the news, "Mom! I am going to be going to Professor Oak's lab every morning to learn from him about pokemon before I start my new journey!"

His mom smiled at him and wrapped him in a strong hug, "Oh that is wonderful sweetie!"

"Mom… your crushing… me," Ash managed to get out words while Pikachu jumped off his shoulders onto the table to converse with mr. mime.

"Oh, sorry sweetie," she let her son go and continued to cook with a smile on her face. After a few moments, she placed the meal on the table. It was a casserole of various vegetables with a mouthwatering aroma.

Ash and Pikachu immediately began devouring food until they were full. After a moment of idle conversation, he made a request, "Mom, I am going solo on this new journey. With that in mind, I would like to learn how to cook."

Delia smiled from ear-to-ear with excitement and wrapped her arms around her son once more. After Ash struggled for a moment, she released her grip, "Yes! I would love to teach you to cook! We can do cooking lessons after you come from the lab every day!" She had already thought of several things to teach him as they continued to talk until Ash decided to go tell his pokemon of his decision.

* * *

The next couple of weeks were spent with a consistent schedule for Ash and his pokemon. In the mornings, he would meet up with Gary and the professor studying pokemon habitats, eating habits, etc. This was improved upon by Oak's colleague, Prof. Birch, sending information of pokemon native to Hoenn. They would then take a break from studying. Ash used this break to meet with his pokemon and have them practice new techniques and battle each other to improve their ability to react to battle situations. He would also help Tracey during this time in dispersing the various foods for the different types of pokemon. This would be followed by him going home and his mom giving him cooking lessons. She also mixed in some lessons in manners since he wouldn't have Misty or Brock to correct him in social situations.

During this time, Ash made a couple of phone calls and was reunited with his charizard, squirtle, and primeape. Those three pokemon were eager for a new adventure and were in a position that they had learned as much as they could where they were training. During a few training sessions, his squirtle, cyndaquil, and bulbasaur all evolved. Each were impressed with their new forms and the power that came with evolving. All his pokemon congratulated them on their new forms. This, however, made Pikachu start to seriously consider evolving, especially when bulbasaur evolved. After a few more training sessions, Pikachu remembered that on their first adventure Ash had obtained a thunderstone from the Nurse Joy in Vermillion City. While Ash was assisting Tracey one day, Pikachu went with ivysaur to find the stone. After some searching, they found it in Ash's nightstand wrapped in white cloth. They took it back to the field behind Oak's lab and all the pokemon gathered around Pikachu and the stone.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Ivysaur asked the question that was on everyone else's mind. They had been just sitting there for five minutes, but it felt like an eternity. Pikachu was clearly still deciding if this is what he wants.

"You don't have to evolve y'know, but I believe you are as strong as you will ever get without evolving," charizard offered his input as well with several of the others agreeing with the statement.

"I know I don't have to, but, like you said, I'm as strong as I will ever get," Pikachu looked at his teammates and then to the stone several times before he just closed his eyes and touched the stone.

The sound of a pokemon evolving caught Ash and Tracey's attention causing them to rush over to the clearing Ash's pokemon commonly used to train.

After a few moments of bright light, an orange mouse was stood in the middle of a group of pokemon. Raichu opened his eyes and looking at his teammates. Wartortle walked up to the mouse, "Well? How do you feel?"

"I feel a bit stronger," he looked over his new form noticing he was slightly taller than before.

"Well, give it a test," primeape walked over to a large rock and gestured to it. Raichu nodded at the fighting type and felt the electricity coursing through him before he unleashed a thunderbolt more powerful than he had ever been able to achieve. It easily blasted the rock into many pieces. "Holy shit!" The pig monkey pokemon jumped out of the way of the incoming rock pieces.

"Sorry!" Raichu looked where the rock was and the charred ground around it from the electricity of the attack.

"Don't apologize! That was incredible!" The fighting type walked back over to the group and held out a fist to the electric mouse, to which raichu fist bumped with a proud smile on his face.

* * *

Ash and Tracey made it through the trees to the clearing just in time to see an orange mouse launch an incredible thunderbolt at a rock causing the rock to just blow apart. "Whoa!" Both Tracey and Ash exclaimed in awe of the power that was displayed. Ash looked back at the group of pokemon, specifically at the orange mouse among them, "Pika- I mean, Raichu is this what you wanted?" The mouse looked at him and nodded with affirmation. "Well then, I can't wait to see what else your new evolution is capable of," Ash stepped forward to his new Raichu and rubbed his head feeling the static come off his fur. Tracey reminded Ash that they needed to finish tending to the other pokemon first before he could begin training with them. The rest of the day went as planned with Ash doing more testing of his best friend's new form than real training.

* * *

After a month of learning and training had past, Ash was ready to begin his new adventure. He and Raichu woke up early, like usual, and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading to the lab.

Ash walked in the doors of the lab met by silence. No Tracey, Gary, or Professor in sight or in any of the rooms. He walked out to the clearing his pokemon stayed in only to find that all but ivysaur and phanpy were missing. "Hey guys, where is everyone else?" Ivysaur and phanpy just made gestures that would indicate everyone was just relaxing elsewhere. Ash took the answer and decided to do the same. He sat with phanpy, ivysaur, and raichu and just enjoyed the calm breeze that would sweep through the trees from time to time.

At some point, Ash had laid down and fallen asleep waking up sometime around five in the afternoon. The sun was close to setting as he looked around and saw his three pokemon all resting near him. He was going to just let them rest but the roar of his stomach caused the three to be drawn out of their dreams. As they awoke, their stomachs also began to growl having slept through a good part of the day. "Guess we are all hungry," Ash and his pokemon chuckled, "I bet mom has leftovers at the house! Let's go get some!" The pokemon cheered and followed Ash back home.

Ash walked in the door expecting to immediately be hugged by his mom, but was instead embraced by the same silence as the lab. "Huh, this is weird. First, no Professor Oak, Gary, or Tracey; now no mom or mr. mime? Where is everyone?"

Ash continued to look around the house while his three pokemon stayed in the living room. "Ya know, it is nice that Ash is stalling time for us," Ivysaur hopped on the couch and spoke to the other two.

"True, but he will start checking around town soon. I hope they finish setting up before he gets close," Raichu also took a seat on the couch.

"Why are we keeping him away from everyone again?" Phanpy, still a bit young, was still confused by the concept of a surprise party.

"We are trying to surprise him with a birthday party, if he finds out before it is set up and everyone is ready the whole party is ruined," Ivysaur tried to make it sound more dramatic by emphasizing the word ruined.

"Oh okay, I gotcha!" The long nose pokemon began to move around with excitement and pride having been giving such an important job.

"Well, I guess mom went out to the market or something since we appear to be out of food. We will just walk around town and find something I guess," Ash was very confused where everyone was but wasn't too worried about it. He figured they would pop up eventually.

* * *

After about an hour of walking around town, Ash spotted one of his childhood friends walking down the lamp lit road as night had finally fallen, "Hey Leaf!"

The girl turned to face him and waved him over. She had beautiful long brown hair coming down from a white hat bearing a red stripe around it and a red half pokeball, a light blue tank top with black trim, a red skirt, light blue socks, and red and white sneakers. "Hey Ash, what are you up to?" She was kind of nervous talking to Ash, always has been, but managed to find a way to get used to talking to him since Ash stuck around Pallet a bit longer this time around.

"Nothing just out walking," Ash realized at that moment that Leaf is the first person he has seen all day. "Leaf, do you know why no one is around today? I have I missed something?"

She couldn't help but giggle a bit, "Here, follow me!" She turned and led him to town hall.

Ash looked around confused as to why they were at town hall, but he continued to follow Leaf inside. At some point, he lost her and just started wandering around looking for her, he opened the back door to the building, that normally was just opened to an empty field, to everyone in town yelling _surprise_ to him. "What's going on?" Ash looked around at the tents and lights set up under the moonlit sky confused.

"Oh, come on Ashy boy, you don't know what today is?" Gary approached from his left alongside the Professor and Delia.

"Should I know?" Ash, still confused, felt bad he forgot something apparently important.

"Sweetie, today is your birthday," as Delia told him, Ash felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him. "Happy birthday honey!" She pulled Ash into one of her famous bone crushing hugs.

After she let go, Ash looked around amazed that the whole town helped put this together for him. He saw his pokemon intermingling with the local's pokemon and told the three with him to go ahead over there while he visited around with everyone. Ash walked around thanking everyone and enjoying himself before his journey began. He spent a good portion of his time with Gary and Leaf talking about what they planned to do. Gary was going to help his grandpa at the lab with research while Leaf said she will head out in a couple of weeks to Hoenn to start her new journey. After the party died down, Ash went back home with raichu thinking of the new adventure they would be starting tomorrow.

* * *

The next morning came rather quickly due to how late the party ran last night. Ash woke up mildly tired but excited that today was the day for his new journey. He and raichu went downstairs in no real rush since he didn't have any lessons or training today, and his boat wouldn't leave till three in the afternoon. "Good morning mom," Ash entered the kitchen and was immediately smacked with the pleasant aroma of his mom's home cooking.

"Good morning sweetie," Delia smiled at her son and set the last of the food she prepared for breakfast. "Are you ready for today?"

"We are more than ready!" Ash and raichu displayed their confidence with fists raised before they began eating. The lessons in manners Delia had run him through had taken effect has Ash didn't just destroy his food, though he did still eat at a rather speedy pace.

"Do you have any plans before you head to Vermillion to catch your ship?" Delia asked as if hoping Ash would be out of the house for a bit.

Ash didn't notice and just responded normally, "I was going to help Tracey and relax with my pokemon today before heading out. I'll need to stop back by for some things I'm taking with me though."

"Sounds wonderful! I'll see you in a little while!" Delia waved her son out the door before having mr. mime bring out her sewing supplies.

* * *

Ash and Raichu went out to the field to help Tracey tend to all the pokemon one more time. After tending to everyone, he went to the clearing his pokemon were staying at. Some were training while others were just resting or visiting. Raichu went over to phanpy, ivysaur, and totodile, while Ash went to work with wartortle and Quilava. After a little while, Gary, Tracey, and the Professor came out to the clearing.

"Hey Ash!" Ash turned to see the group heading his way.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Ash walked to them meeting them roughly in the middle of the clearing.

"We were just wanting to say one last goodbye before you head to the Hoenn region," the older man spoke for the group and gestured behind him to a large portion of the pokemon at the lab who had followed the group there.

"You have done a lot to help us out and we will miss you around the lab," the pokemon watcher gave a slight bow of gratitude.

The group then went silent for a moment before Gary spoke up, "Ash, you know I don't do goodbyes, so I will send you off the only way I know how." Ash looked at Gary confused before noticing him reach for a pokeball. A grin crept on Gary's face, "I challenge you to a pokemon battle!"

"I accept!" Ash grinned as well while he ran through his pokemon deciding who he wanted to use.

"You two never cease with this rivalry," the Professor chuckled slightly, "Very well, I will act as referee for this match," Professor Oak stepped over to the side with Tracey next to him to give Ash and Gary room.

The other pokemon of the lab gathered around in the trees and on the grass to watch. Ash looked over to his pokemon and pondered before deciding on heracross. "Okay Gary, I have chosen my pokemon. Are you ready?"

Gary held out a pokeball with a confident grin, "You know I'm ready."

"Trainers, choose your pokemon!"

"Go Heracross!" Heracross flew on the field in front of ash.

Gary threw his pokeball at the same time, "Let's go magmar!" The spitfire pokemon stood on the field in front of Gary. When the pokemon saw each other, they each gave a look of respect before getting in a fighting position.

"Well, it looks like we will have a rematch from the Silver Conference Gary!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

The two trainers grinned with excitement waiting on the Professor to give the word, "Battle begin!"

"Heracross, use double team!" Heracross created many copies of itself surrounding the fire type.

"Trying to confuse magmar, eh? It won't work! Magmar cut through the copies with flamethrower then follow that up with fire punch!" The fire type launched streams of fire at all the copies forcing the real heracross to have to dodge the stream leaving it wide open for the fire punch. The hit knocked the bug into the air leaving a scorched mark on its side.

"Stop yourself with your wings!" Heracross caught itself before it hit the ground, instead hovering in place, "use take down followed up with brick break!" The bug launched toward magmar at an impressive speed catching him off guard. Heracross slammed into the fire types side knocking him into the air for a moment before slamming him to the ground with a glowing white arm.

"Magmar, use flamethrower while its close!" As soon as the fire type hit the ground, he opened his eyes and launched a stream of fire at the single-horn pokemon three feet away.

Heracross crossed his arms to try and block the attack to no avail. The stream engulfed the bug type launching it back to the other side of the field. "Heracross, are you okay?" Ash called out in worry. Heracross stood up on shaky legs, his body glowing a slight red. Ash's worry subsided, "It's over now Gary."

"What do you mean?" Gary was visibly confused by Ash's shift from worry to confidence. His pokemon was on its last leg with one more attack dropping it. "Never mind, Magmar use smokescreen!" The fire type filled most the field with black clouds of smoke.

"Heracross, fly near the top of the smokescreen." The pokemon flew above the smoke waiting for Ash's next instructions.

"Now! Use fire punch!" The fire type jumped out of the smoke with a fist of flames aiming for the airborne bug.

"Brick break!" Heracross launched itself toward magmar with its right arm glowing a brighter white than before.

The two pokemon each managed to nail the other with their respective attacks launching each other to the ground on their sides.

"Heracross!"

"Magmar!"

The two pokemon remained motionless on the ground. "Both pokemon are unable to battle, this battle ends in a draw!" Professor Oak raised both his arms.

Ash pulled heracross' pokeball from his belt and returned him, Gary followed suit. Tracey ran over to the two trainers, "Here I'll heal up your pokemon!" He took the two balls and ran to the lab.

"That was an excellent battle you two!" Oak applauded the two trainers.

"Thanks gramps, but I need to have my pokemon work on reacting to attacks," Gary put his hands in his pockets with a satisfied smirk.

"I need to work with my pokemon that have limited evasive moves to protect them from taking so much damage," Ash made a mental note to work on that more in Hoenn. "Anyway, thanks for a great battle Gary!" He held out his hand which Gary returned the gesture.

"Anytime Ash, you better go far in the Pokemon League in Hoenn so I don't feel as bad about this draw!" Gary gave Ash a pat on the shoulder with the same smirk.

"I will! No doubt about it!" Ash gave the same confident grin he gave his mom that morning. His pokemon all called out as well radiating the same confidence.

Tracey came back out with both pokeballs, "they should be good to move around, but I would avoid any serious battling for a few days."

"Thanks Tracey!" Ash returned the pokeball to his belt. "Hey professor, what time is it?"

The older man checked his watch, "It's five till ten, what time does your boat head out?"

"At three o'clock, I suppose I should go gather some things before heading out!" Ash was about to head back to his house but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Actually Ash, I have a surprise for you. You come as well Gary," Oak led them back into the lab and into a room with complex looking machines. "Would you two please hand me your pokedexes?" Both handed their devices to the professor and after a few minutes received solid red devices with a pokeball design on the end with the center circle being a light blue. "Boys, this is the most up-to-date version of the pokedex. Every new trainer in the Hoenn region starts with this particular model, I already transferred your data from your previous dex into the new one!"

"Wow thanks professor!" Ash already flipped his open and was working through some of the new features of the dex.

Gary looked confused at the device, "Uh Gramps, why did I get one? I'm just helping you research."

"Well Gary, it's true I need someone to research pokemon for me, but I know you enjoy the thrill of traveling. This way you can still travel and help me!" The professor smiled as he watched a smile grow on his grandson's face.

"Thanks Gramps!" Gary began playing with the device a bit to figure out what else was new other than the design.

"One more thing boys," the two trainers stopped playing with their dexes, "I have also increased the amount of pokemon you can have on you at a time. You two can now have nine pokemon on you at any given time!"

"Really?!" The two were blown away thinking that the limit for pokemon was always six no matter what.

"Well, it'll help with research and with training. It's a win-win the way I see it," the older man checked his watch once more.

"Ash, you should probably get going if you plan on getting there early!"

"Oh, you're right! Thanks again professor!" Ash ran out the door back toward his house.

"Good luck Ash!" The two Oaks waved at the raven-haired trainer.

* * *

Ash ran in the door to his home, "Hey Mom, I'm home!"

Right as he spoke, Delia came out from the living room, "Hello sweetie, are you gathering your things?"

Ash nodded, "I'll be back down in a second, thankfully I don't have much to gather!" He ran upstairs leaving a dust cloud behind him.

"Mr. mime, go get it!" Mr. mime saluted and brought out a figure covered in a sheet.

After a few moments, Ash returned downstairs to his mom, her pokemon, and a sheet covering something, "Uh, what's that?"

"Just a little something I have been working on," she revealed a mannequin wearing stone washed blue jeans, a black t-shirt, a light gray jacket with a red pokemon league logo on the back, a red hat with a white pokeball design, and black and white sneakers. The figure also had a black, green, and white plaid patterned backpack. "Ta-da!"

"Wow!" Ash was speechless, he was so use to the outfit he wore for his first three adventures that he didn't give changing his appearance a second thought.

"Well, go try it on!" His mom handed him the clothes off the mannequin and waited in the living room for her son to return.

"Okay, how do I look?" Ash returned in his new outfit looking over himself.

"You look handsome," Delia pulled Ash into a bone-crushing hug for a moment before releasing him, not wanting to wrinkle the new clothes. "I did add extra pockets on the inside of the jacket since you can carry more pokemon with you now."

"Professor Oak told you?"

"He informed me yesterday," Delia smiled before looking at the clock. "Oh, you should get going sweetie, wouldn't want you to be late!" She hugged him once more before ushering him out the door waving goodbye.

* * *

Ash returned to his pokemon in the clearing, "Okay everyone, it's time for our new adventure to begin. Letting you all know, the professor increased my pokemon capacity to nine. With that said I am only taking six of you until I make it to the first town outside of Littleroot Town, which I believe is Oldale Town." All the pokemon looked around excitedly at each other, "Would anyone like to volunteer to stay here until that point?" Snorlax raised his arm followed by heracross who wanted to relax a few days. Kingler, ivysaur, and the tauros Ash decided to keep, leaving the rest for the research of the professor, also volunteered, leaving ten to choose from. "Okay then, in addition to raichu and charizard, I will be taking primeape, bayleef, noctowl, and totodile. Everyone else I'm sorry, but I will be rotating you all out to make sure everyone has a chance to travel Hoenn multiple times." After a few more moments and one take down from a larger grass type out of excitement, Ash recalled the pokemon joining him minus raichu and charizard. They climbed onto charizard's back and readied for flight, "To Vermillion City!" The fire type shot off the ground and flew at incredible speeds toward the port city.

 **A couple of hours later**

The two pokemon and their trainer landed near the dock in the busy port. Ash recalled charizard and set out toward The Aqua Queen, the vessel that will be his home for the few days it will take to get to Littleroot. The boat was rather large and had many water types featured on its side, some of which Ash didn't recognize. Boarding had already started so Ash joined the line and made his way to his cabin on board. Ash had settled in and decided to go for a walk around the upper deck. Raichu walked beside him the whole way, both marveling at the beauty of the sea and the different activities available on the ship, which included a pool and battlefield among other things. As they turned a corner, they ran into a man and woman, "Oh, I'm so sorry-" Ash stopped his sentence immediately recognizing the lavender-haired man and the magenta-haired woman, "Team Rocket!"

* * *

 **Ash's current party – Charizard, Raichu, Primeape, Bayleef, Totodile, Noctowl**

 **I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! To all of you who made it this far, if you would like a part in the creation of this story please PM me a character of your own creation. Just tell me the character's basic info (age, name, gender, etc.), their alignment (good or bad), pokemon (4 primary moves for the pokemon), hometown, and goal for that character. Feel free to be creative and I will work on a way to incorporate your character. I believe that is all for now, thanks again and I will see y'all next chapter!**

 **PS – If you are one of the readers from my other story, I am working through writer's block on that current chapter. I hope to have a new chapter of that out eventually, but I will be working on this story until I get inspiration for that chapter.**


	2. Land Hoenn

**Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon.**

 **Land Hoenn!**

* * *

"Team Rocket!" Ash stood in a defensive stance and reached for a pokeball while raichu's cheeks began to spark.

The three panicked at the sight before them, "Whoa! Easy Ash, we aren't here to cause trouble!" James managed to force his words out while attempting to hide with Jesse and meowth.

"How do I know you are telling the- wait, did you just call me Ash?" Ash moved his hand off his pokeball and raichu stopped sparking.

The three peeked out to see that they were no longer in danger, "Yes I did," James spoke with some confidence.

"None of you have ever called me by my name before," Ash eyed them with suspicion, "If you aren't here to cause trouble then, why are you on this ship?"

Meowth stepped forward and was about to speak when all their stomachs growled, "Can we tell ya over some food? We haven't eaten since breakfast."

"Sure, sounds good," Ash and raichu nodded to each other and kept a close eye on the three all the way from the upper deck of the ship to the mid-level restaurant.

* * *

Once they were seated and the waiter brought them appetizers, Ash brought them back to the question before, "So, why are you all on this ship?"

Jesse spoke for the two who were currently cramming their mouths with food, "We quit Team Rocket several weeks back. We wanted to follow the dreams we have, and let's face it, we are horrible criminals." James and meowth nodded their heads before continuing to work on the appetizers.

"So, what do your dreams have to do with being on this ship?" Ash sat with curiosity patiently waiting for an answer to his question.

"Oh right," Jesse took a drink of water before continuing, "After we left Team Rocket, we took some time to figure out what we want to do with our lives. On our way through Vermillion, I noticed an ad for a cruise to the Hoenn region. Once we had researched it more, we all found dreams to chase there!" Jesse spoke with enthusiasm that Ash hadn't ever seen from her or James.

"We took all of the money we had saved up and bought two tickets for this ship, thankfully we don't have to pay for meowth since he is a pokemon," James patted meowth on the head taunting him to which the cat swiped at him nearly cutting his cheek.

"I may be a pokemon, but I'm still smarter than the two of ya put together," Meowth took another bite before taking over the conversation, "In case you were wondering Ash, Jesse's dream is to compete as a Pokemon Coordinator in Contests. James and I on the other hand decided we want to get stronger, so we are taking on the gyms in Hoenn in hopes of making it to the conference in Hoenn and getting the opportunity to take on the champion of this region."

Ash and raichu looked at each other and smiled, "Looks like we might see you in the League conference in that case!"

James and meowth smirked as well, "It does! We look forward to the challenge, but we don't plan on losing!"

The meal continued with all five of them consuming enough food for a large family before calling it a day and retiring to their cabins.

* * *

Ash and Raichu awoke the next morning in an almost hung over state from consuming so much food the night before. The duo began a workout routine to start the day before their stomachs began to growl forcing Ash to stop and shower. Once Ash had gotten dressed, the two friends headed for the breakfast buffet being served on the top-most deck of the ship. As soon as they piled a tray with enough food for a family, Raichu spotted James and Meowth, also with a tray piled high with various breakfast food, sitting near a window. Ash saw where his friend was looking and walked over to the two, "Hey guys!"

With mouths full, both replied with a greeting that the people around them were disgusted by. The four sat devouring their meals until the piles of food had disappeared. James took a drink of orange juice before breaking the silence, "So, what do you two have planned for the day?"

Ash rubbed his chin, "I'm not sure, might just relax. What are you two up to?"

"James brought up testing out some of the talent on the battle deck, but otherwise not much," Meowth with a slight cocky grin.

"That's not a bad idea!" Ash and raichu both became excited at the prospect of getting a bit more training in before they reached port in Littleroot Town.

"We are going up there now to watch some matches if you two feel like coming along," James got up from his seat and meowth followed suit.

Ash and raichu thought about it for a moment, "We'll be up there sometime around noon. We are going to relax on the pool deck for a little while!"

"Suit yourself!" Meowth and James went toward the battle deck while Ash and Raichu took an elevator down a couple of levels to the Lugia deck. The elevator took them to a lobby area that opened out to a deck with two pools, two water slides in the shape of gyarados (one red and one blue), and various drink and snack bars. On his way out on the deck, he saw a sign that said _Pokemon allowed and encouraged._ He thought about who he had with him and let totodile, bayleef, and primeape out. They grabbed a small spot a bit away from the entrance to the slide and laid out and relaxed.

Having nodded off at some point, he was awoken by a leaf brushing against his face. He looked down to see that bayleef had laid her head on his chest and fallen asleep. He just laughed a bit and rustled her awake before getting up and gathering his things to head up to the battle deck. He returned bayleef and looked around seeing raichu, totodile, and primeape sitting in the hot tub. "Hey guys, you three ready to head up to the battle deck?" The three jumped out of the tub out of excitement and Ash returned the two while raichu walked ahead of him waving to a small, pink cat pokemon on the way.

* * *

The duo walked out on the battle deck to see a few battlefields with trainers, young and old, practicing moves and techniques. They noticed one of the battlefields had a large crowd around it. As they were walking toward the group, they noticed Jesse and wobbuffet laying out on lounge chairs and approached them. "Hey Jesse!"

The magenta haired woman peaked over her sunglasses to see ash and Raichu walking up, "Oh, hey Ash! Enjoying yourself?" She gave him a friendly smile before pulling her sunglasses back up.

Raichu went over and started talking to wobbuffet as Ash pulled a chair over, "Yeah I sure am, are you?"

"I can't complain, this is the first cruise I have been on that we haven't been stowaways," she chuckled a bit, "I assume you are here to practice before we land in Hoenn."

"Yep! James and meowth told me they were heading up here!" He looked around for a moment, "Speaking of those two, where are they?"

Jesse pointed to the large group of people, "They started a small winning streak a little bit ago and attracted a bit of a crowd."

"Really? Come on raichu!" Ash quickly headed toward the crowded battlefield with raichu tailing behind him.

* * *

"Slugma is unable to battle! The winners of this match are James and meowth!"

James and meowth high-fived enjoying another win before the cat sat down, "Okay James, I'm exhausted and need a break. Care to stop for the day and pick it up tomorrow?"

"Yeah meowth, we can st-"

"Hey, we wanna take you two on!" A guy and girl walked out on the battlefield opposite James and meowth. "And we aren't taking no for an answer!"

James looked at the two trainers and then back to meowth, "You can still take a break meowth, I can use growlie and get him some more experience." The cat nodded and walked out of the crowd over to Jesse and wobbuffet to relax. "Okay, which one of you two am I battling first?"

"Both of us, we challenge you to a double battle!" James looked to his bag where he was keeping growlie. "You do have another pokemon don't you?" The guy asked his question in a mocking tone.

"Yes! Of course, I do!" He reached in his bag and began pulling the lone pokeball out.

Before he turned to face the two trainers, Ash came from the side, "Hey James! You need a partner?"

James sighed in relief at hearing Ash's voice, which he thought was a weird sensation, and turned with pokeball in hand, "Yes, I do!" As Ash got closer to him, James thanked him for the assistance.

"Can't let you have all the fun, can I?" Ash patted him on the shoulder and took his position.

The guy across the field looked a little annoyed that someone came to help James but played it off, "Doesn't matter, we can take the two of ya!" He stood there with a cocky grin that made Ash smile.

"James, let's beat these two, I want to wipe that smug grin off his face!" James nodded and both sides looked to the man acting as referee.

He walked over to each side and got their names before returning to his position, "This battle will be Jane and Steve of Johto versus Ash and James of Kanto! Trainers please send out your pokemon!"

Jane and Steve sent out a flaaffy and sudowoodo respectively.

"Let's go growlie!" James sent out his growlithe that Ash and raichu recognized from a previous journey.

' _Hmm, I guess that is the only other pokemon in his party. It doesn't have a type advantage against either pokemon and is weak to the sudowoodo.'_ Ash looked at raichu who was having the same thought and nodded to him. "Let's get 'em Primeape!" Ash sent out the fighting fiend of his team and looked over to James, "We can take the sudowoodo, you two just focus on that flaaffy!" Primeape looked like he was communicating the same message to growlie before turning his focus to the rock type.

"Got it!" James turned his focus to the electric type.

"Battle begin!" The referee raised both arms signaling battle as the crowd began to cheer.

"Sudowoodo, use rock throw!" The rock type began forming rocks and launching them across the field at the fire type.

Growlie looked in horror at the large rocks heading its way. "Primeape, karate chop!" The pig monkey pokemon jumped in front of the scared fire type and began destroying incoming rocks with glowing white hands.

"Flaffy use thunderbolt!" The electric sheep sent a current of electricity straight for the fighting type.

"Growlie use ember at flaaffy!" The puppy pokemon launched a barrage of small fire balls causing a small explosion, "Now use flame wheel!" He shot out of the smoke from the explosion and charged at the electric sheep surrounded in fire.

"Sudowoodo, use rock tomb!"

As sudowoodo prepared to launch boulders at the fire type, Ash yelled out, "Use cross chop!"

Sudowoodo managed to get a few rocks off before taking the powerful fighting type attack.

As the rocks neared growlie, he used all the force he could muster, slammed into the side of flaaffy leaving a scorch mark, and avoiding the boulders landing around him.

"Discharge!" The, now hurt, flaaffy launched a surge of electricity around herself hitting the other three pokemon. All three were knocked back by the surge but quickly returned to their feet.

Sudowoodo stood up but appeared to have received paralysis, "I told you not to use that move!" Steve looked beyond pissed at what was assumed to be his girlfriend or friend of some sort.

Jane fired back, "Well, maybe you should do a better job at protecting my flaaffy, thanks to you she's hurt!"

Ash nodded to James and both decided to take this opportunity to get a free shot in on both pokemon. "Use close combat!" Primeape made a beeline for sudowoodo.

"Growlie, use fire fang!" Growlithe charged for flaaffy with teeth flaming.

Both pokemon landed their hits with primeape's being too much for sudowoodo causing the pokemon to faint. "Sudowoodo is unable to battle!"

"What?!" Steve looked at his rock type lying on the ground, "This is all your fault!" He returned his pokemon and stormed off.

Jane looked at the field before her, "I forfeit, I'm not going to see flaaffy get hurt anymore." She returned the electric type and ran to the elevators.

Everyone looked around, mildly confused, "Jane forfeits, your winners are Ash and James!"

Ash and James high-fived while primeape gave growlithe a look of pride. James took a break after that while Ash decided to train some more with totodile and let his pokemon out to be filled in on the situation with Jesse, James, and meowth after charizard almost barbequed them. The remainder of the trip was filled with Ash helping James train with growlithe and meowth.

* * *

After several days, the captain announced over the intercom that they have reached Littleroot Town. Ash and raichu, along with Jesse, James, and Meowth, got off the ship and looked around in excitement at landing in Hoenn finally!

The group walked to the Town of Littleroot so Ash could stop by the Birch Research Lab. When they reached a point where the road split toward the research lab, James, Jesse, and meowth stopped, "Well, Ash this is where we part ways for now!"

"Really? So soon?" Ash looked at the group.

"Yes, my first contest is in a few days and we need to get there in time for me to practice!" Jesse responded in an excited tone.

"Oh right! Good luck Jesse, I hope to see you all around," Ash and raichu waved at the three as they walked out of the Town and out of view. "Well, time to meet Professor Birch and get this journey started buddy!" Riachu nodded and the two walked up the road to the Lab.

The duo reached the door and knocked waiting patiently for a response. After a few seconds, a man with green hair and glasses opened the door, "Oh hello, how can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Professor Birch."

A larger man walked up behind the previous man, "You found him! Who might you be?"

Ash looked over to the much livelier looking man, "My name is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in Kanto!"

"Pallet Town? You must be the trainer Professor Oak has been telling me about! Please, come in!" Ash and raichu followed the two scientist into the facility.

* * *

Birch and Ash went to the lobby to talk while his assistant Joshua ran some tests on raichu for his thesis on electric type pokemon. Once Joshua and raichu had joined them, they sat around trading a few stories, with Birch sharing his embarrassing experience earlier that morning, "I was researching some poochyena, and I guess I encroached too far causing them to use bite on me. Luckily a young lady starting her journey today was able to command a torchic I had in my bag and saved me!" Birch simply scratched the back of his head out of embarrassment.

"Torchic, that's the fire type starter for this region, right?"

"Yes, it is Ash," Joshua sipped his fruit tea, "In addition to torchic, you have treecko the grass type starter, and mudkip the water type starter." Upon hearing its name, a mudkip came out from underneath one of the lab tables. "Hey little guy, I almost forgot you were here!" Joshua picked up the affectionate starter.

"Joshua, why is mudkip still here? I thought we had three trainers starting their journey today?" Birch looked at his assistant with confusion.

"Three trainers did start today; the mayor's son didn't show up today. I called to make sure he was coming only to learn the mayor let his son pick from any pokemon in the region to start with and selected that over coming here to pick," Mudkip looked sad at hearing he was not chosen to travel.

Ash reached his hand out to mudkip and the water type looked at his hand a moment before rubbing his head against his hand, "Well, if there are no more trainers starting today, would I be able to take mudkip with me?" As soon as Ash finished his sentence, mudkip jumped his arms and affectionately cuddled up to the raven-haired trainer.

Birch and Joshua just laughed, "Well Ash, it's hard to say no when mudkip clearly wants to go with you." Birch got up and grabbed mudkip's pokeball off the counter and handed it to Ash, "Just take good care of him."

"Yes sir," Ash returned mudkip to his pokeball and put it inside his jacket. After some more small talk and recommendations from Birch Ash got up with raichu following suit, "Well, I should get going if I want to get to Oldale Town before dark! Thanks for everything guys!"

As Ash put his hand on the doorknob, Birch spoke up once more, "Hey Ash, I have a small request to ask of you"

"Okay, shoot," took his hand off the knob and faced the researcher.

"Beyond Petalburg City is Petalburg Woods, a normal habitat for bug and grass type pokemon as well as pokemon like slakoth who enjoy the dim lighting the dense forest provides. I assume you will hit it on the way to Rustboro City to take on the gym leader of that area," Ash nodded so Birch continued, "People have been reporting strange sightings in the forest."

"Strange sightings? Like what?" Ash and raichu both gave Birch their complete focus.

"A disappearing figure of a male roughly about thirteen or fourteen, reports of a rhyhorn inhabiting the area, and spikes of electricity within the forest," Birch took a sip of water before continuing, "I just need someone to check it out for me since I'm needed here in Littleroot."

"Well you can count on us," Ash held a fist up in affirmation, "Isn't that right raichu?"

"Rai-rai," raichu mimicked Ash's gesture.

"Excellent! Just call here when you reach Rustboro with any news!" Birch walked the two outside and waved them off on their journey.

* * *

 **A few hours later**

Ash and raichu were walking along a road through an area of open plains with a few areas of trees scattered around. The duo was planning to stop for a moment when the shriek of someone nearby caught them off guard. They quickly ran in the direction of the screaming noticing a girl with a red bandana and a torchic that looked in rough shape; opposite them were a group of angry looking quadrupedal pokemon, large and small. He recognized the smaller ones as poochyena from talking with Birch earlier in the day, and assumed the larger ones to be the evolved forms. He saw three of the poochyena began to charge torchic with glowing white teeth and reacted immediately, "Raichu, use thunderbolt!" Raichu shot off a yellow-orange tinted bolt of electricity that struck the ground in front of the three smaller pups. The group of pokemon turned their focus to Ash and raichu and began to growl, "Well, doesn't look like you all want to talk about this and walk away." Ash took a step back and removed two pokeballs from his jacket, "Come on out!" In a flash of blinding light, charizard and primeape stood ready for a fight, "Still want to fight?"

The poochyena started to back off at the sight of the stronger opponents, but the larger pokemon weren't backing down. Ash simply sighed, "Oh well, you three can take care of this right?" Raichu, primeape, and charizard all nodded, "Okay, just don't go overboard!" The three shot off toward the larger hyena pokemon. With attacks clashing and the opposing pokemon taking several hits, Ash ran over to the trainer and her injured torchic, "Hey are you okay," Ash asked as he pulled a small vile out of his bag and began treating the chick pokemon.

"Yeah, I-I'm okay," she looked at her pokemon with sadness in her heart, "Will torchic be okay?"

"Yeah, she'll be just fine," Ash smiled as torchic began to look a lot healthier, "She will just need to be checked at a Pokemon Center as soon as you reach one." Ash finished administering the medicine about the same time that his pokemon walked over to them, "Are we good?" Charizard, primeape, and raichu nodded pointing to the fleeing pokemon, "Good! What were those pokemon anyway?"

"The smaller ones were poochyena and the larger ones were mightyena," the girl, now holding her pokemon, answered with fear still present in her voice.

"Mightyena, huh," Ash pulled out his PokeDex and read it over, "A dark type, wouldn't be a bad idea to snag one up since I don't currently have someone with that typing."

Ash became so lost in thought he forgot there was another person around, "Excuse me, I don't think I caught your name before."

"Huh?" Ash looked over at the girl, "Oh right, I'm sorry," he scratched the back of his head, "my name is Ash Ketchum and I'm from Pallet Town in the Kanto region!" Ash received a small jolt of electricity before realizing what he forgot, "Oh right, and these are three of my pokemon!"

The brunette giggled at the sight, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you Ash, my name is May Maple and I'm from Petalburg City here in Hoenn!" Torchic started to stir a bit and opened its eyes, "And this is torchic!" The fire type wiggled out of May's arms and went to the other three to converse with them.

Ash and May went on talking while the four pokemon talked and played for a bit. The sky over Hoenn began to glow a beautiful orange before Ash realized what time it was, "Well, it's gotten a bit late, I guess we are camping out for tonight guys and we will start our trek early in the morning!" His three pokemon all cheered a bit at their first night camping out in the new region. He reached in his jacket and sent out the rest of his pokemon, minus mudkip. With the six pokemon out of their balls, and bayleef, noctowl, and totodile being introduced to torchic, Ash called his pokemon to come in closer, "Hey guys, I want you all to meet our first teammate here in Hoenn. Come on out mudkip!" The water type materialized facing Ash and quickly rubbed against his leg before turning to see the group of pokemon. Under normal circumstances, he might've fled at the sight of such a large and intimidating group, but he recognized raichu and gained some confidence to meet the team.

During this, Ash noticed May walking around the area rather franticly, "Is something wrong May?"

"Well, I need to get home as soon as possible before my parents start worrying too much. The only problem is I can't find my bike," after a few moments looking, she noticed the charred corpse of what was once her bike, "What happened?!"

Ash ran over and noticed the problem, "Guys! I thought I said to not go overboard!" Charizard and raichu saw the bike and tried to look ashamed but couldn't quite cover up their laughter. Ash looked back at May expecting her to be angry, but she looked like she was holding back laughter as well, "What so funny?"

"Nothing, it just looks likes this isn't the first time this happened to you," she smiled and took a seat on a nearby stump, "I guess you'll just have to accompany me back to Petalburg tomorrow."

"Sounds fair," Ash smiled, began unpacking his camping gear, and getting dinner started.

After a little while of playing with her torchic, Ash's totodile, and mudkip, May was drawn to the pot Ash was using to cook. The scent was mouthwatering, much to May's surprise, and she sat across from Ash as he put the finishing touches on dinner.

"Alright everyone, dinner is served!" Ash's pokemon all came to the fire and grabbed a bowl of a stew made from berries Ash kept on hand. Everyone sat enjoying the warmth of the meal on a breezy evening, except May who was looking the stew over, "Something wrong May?"

"No, I'm just looking at what you used for the stew," she took her spoon and stirred it before scooping some of the meal into her mouth. With a look of shock, she devoured the meal and held her bowl out to Ash, "Can I have more?"

Ash laughed, "Sure May, you can have as much as you want!" After the stew was all gone, everyone laid out in the grass stuffed from the meal. Most of the pokemon, and May, had fallen asleep including mudkip, who was laying on Ash's chest, and noctowl, who was keeping watch. Ash looked to the clear sky at the stars shining brightly, "Here's to our best finish ever, Pokemon League Champions!" With dreams of the league and adventures to come, Ash fell asleep not knowing someone nearby had been watching him.

"League Champion, huh? Maybe you can help the cause."

* * *

 **Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Feel free to PM me or post a review with questions or comments for the story!**


	3. Pathway to Petalburg

**Pathway to Petalburg**

May awoke the following morning to another incredible scent. She looked over to see Ash finishing cooking breakfast; so, she got up and walked over to him, "Morning Ash!"

"Mornin' May," he made her and all the pokemon a bowl of eggs, rice, and berries before making his own. "Did you sleep well?"

"I did," she smiled before she began to kill her food, "How about you?" She noticed Ash chuckle as he ate his meal, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, just remembering something," he realized he might've offended her, but he couldn't help it. Watching her eat made him realized that's how he must've looked while eating around other people on past journeys. "To answer your question, I slept alright."

"Just alright?" She asked as she grabbed another serving of food.

"Yeah," he took another bite, "I woke up a couple of times feeling uneasy, like something was watching us."

"Really?" She looked around the surrounding area, "Have you had your pokemon check the area?"

"Yeah, I had noctowl do a sweep one of the times I woke up and had everyone else check this morning," Ash took a drink of water, "I guess it was just my imagination."

"I guess so," May looked around a few more times nervously.

Once breakfast was finished, and Ash had packed up the campsite, the two plus raichu, mudkip, and torchic continued their way to Oldale Town. Ash was fine the whole trek there, but he noticed May was constantly looking over her shoulder. He decided to wait to talk about it with her until they made it to the Pokemon Center.

* * *

Around noon, Ash caught sight of a building with a red roof amongst a few other buildings, "There it is!"

May was brought out of her paranoia by Ash's exclamation, "That's great! Let's hurry!" She began running to the center with Ash, raichu, and mudkip tailing behind her.

As soon as they entered the Center, a pleasant voice greeted them, "Hello and welcome to the Pokemon Center."

Ash noticed the pink haired woman and walked up to her, "Hello Nurse Joy!"

She smiled at him, "What can I do for you young man?"

Ash motioned May to come to him, "Could you check my friend and I's pokemon?"

"Absolutely," she smiled and brought two trays for their pokeballs with torchic, mudkip, and raichu following behind.

As Nurse Joy went through the doorway, Ash and May walked over to one of the couches in the lobby. After a few minutes Ash broke the silence that settled between them, "Hey, is everything okay?"

May faked a look of confusion, "What do you mean Ash?"

Ash could see right through the ruse but decided to play along rather than call her out, "I mean, on our way here you seemed a little… off."

She looked around the virtually empty pokemon center, "Well, it's about what you said earlier. You said you felt like something was watching us."

"Yeah, I remember," he gave her a nod to continue.

"Well, I have heard reports of dangerous trainers in the region, and I thought that one of those trainers might have been following us." She spoke with a more hushed tone as she finished the sentence.

"Really? What dangerous trainers?" Ash gave May his complete attention. He had no idea of any criminal activity in the region, but it didn't surprise him too much.

She looked around the Center once more and noticed a news bulletin with the tagline mentioning the two Teams, "There, that might help!"

Ash followed her gaze and saw the tv where a well-dressed middle-aged man was standing in front of an area that looked charred and destroyed, "This is Chomsky reporting from the entrance to Meteor Falls, North of Route 115, where earlier today small groups from Teams Aqua and Magma battled it out. Most of the members involved in the fight were apprehended, but a couple managed to escape using the caves of Meteor Falls. In addition to the destruction of the area, a local fisherman was rushed to a local medical facility in critical condition." The screen then showed various individuals dressed in blue and red. The red individuals wore hooded cloaks and the blue individuals appeared to be dressing like pirates. "If you see any individuals dressed like these, local police urge you to leave the area and call your local emergency hotline. This is Chomsky signing off!"

As the channel went back to local news coverage, Ash soaked in the information. May looked over at him, "That's why I was paranoid the whole way over here."

"Understandably so," Ash closed his eyes, "People that can hurt others without any remorse are terrifying." He opened his eyes once more, "Thankfully, I have my pokemon and my pokemon have me. No criminal grunt is going to cause any harm to us, I can promise that."

May looked inspired by his confidence, "You really think so?"

"In my experience, people like that have little to no training and think they're strong because someone gave them a pokemon," Ash scoffed in disgust, "People that use pokemon as tools for evil don't deserve a companion."

This drew a silence among the two trainers for a couple of minutes before Nurse Joy's voice broke it, "Your pokemon are fit and back to full health."

"Thanks Nurse Joy," Ash's face went back to a comforting grin as he grabbed his pokeballs, mudkip jumped in his arms, and raichu curled up next to him. As soon as torchic jumped into May's arms, Nurse Joy headed back to the counter. "Well May, want to grab some food from the cafeteria here before we head the rest of the way to Petalburg?"

"That sounds wonderful!" May jumped up and speedily walked to the cafeteria with Ash, mudkip, and raichu attempting to catch up.

After the two finished their meals, Ash noticed a video phone, "Oh yeah! Hey May, I forgot I promised my pokemon I would switch up the team a little bit once I reached Oldale, is that alright with you?"

"Yeah Ash, that's fine!" May nodded and followed him to a video phone booth. After a couple of rings an older man in a lab coat appeared on the phone.

"Ah, Ash so good to see you!"

"Good to see you too professor," Ash said with a grin.

"What can I do for you my boy?" Oak shuffled a few papers into a folder before returning his attention back to Ash.

"I'm actually calling to change out a couple of pokemon," Ash pulled two pokeballs out of his jacket.

"Excellent, who would you like to switch them with?"

Ash thought about it for a moment, "Send me heracross and Quilava!"

"Can do! Just give me a couple of minutes," he got up from his chair and walked off screen.

"Hey Ash, who is that?" May's curiosity got the better of her no matter how hard she tried not to be nosy, but Ash didn't seem to mind.

"That's Professor Oak, he is the pokemon professor in my hometown."

"Wait, _the_ Professor Oak? The one that had a radio show?" May sounded excited.

"Yeah?" Ash answered in more of a question due to May's question throwing him off a bit. He remembered the Professor had a radio show, but he never really listened to it.

"We used to listen to him all the time in Johto growing up!"

"You're from Johto?" Ash sat there confused, "I thought you said you were from Petalburg City here in Hoenn."

May nodded, "I do live in Petalburg City, but me and my family are originally from Olivine City in Johto."

"Oh okay, that makes a little more sense!"

Right as Ash replied, Oak appeared back on the screen, "Sorry that took a little longer than expected. It seems Quilava was in the middle of a game of hide and seek with some of the other pokemon."

"That's okay Professor! Can you do me a favor and tell charizard and primeape to continue to work on speed training when I send them?"

"Sure thing Ash! Go ahead and place them in the transfer tray!" Oak set his two pokeballs in his tray at the Lab and in a flash of light the other two pokeballs appeared before him.

"Thank you so much Professor!"

"Not a problem my boy!" Oak gave friendly grin and was about to end the call before Ash spoke up once more.

"Professor, can you tell mom that I'll call her when I reach Rustboro City? I would, but I need to get my new friend here to Petalburg," Ash motioned back to May.

"Absolutely! I'll be sure she gets the message!"

"Thanks Professor!" Ash waved goodbye before ending the call.

* * *

As the two trainers continued across Route 102 to Petalburg, Ash would occasionally stop to battle a younger trainer or collect information on new pokemon he saw. If someone else had been traveling with him they might've gotten annoyed with him stopping every few minutes, but May found his eagerness for battle and excitement for new pokemon oddly charming. She would catch herself staring and would quickly try to find something else to look at, but Ash piqued her interest for some reason.

After about a couple of hours of walking, the two stopped and took a break next to a pond with lotad and surskit playing in the water. May sat with her feet in the cool water playing with torchic, raichu, and totodile, "So, have you seen any new pokemon you want?"

Ash looked over at her while he played with mudkip in his arms and Quilava rested against his leg, "Plenty, but I'm trying to even out my team and be a bit more patient before capturing one. What about you?"

"Um, I don't really know. I'm still new to having a pokemon; so, I don't exactly know how to catch one," she grew an embarrassed look and avoided Ash's eyes.

He chuckled, "May, its nothing to be embarrassed about," he stopped to look around and heard the noise of a pokemon he had been studying up on in Pallet. "Here, come with me!" He held out his hand to help her up, "Totodile come with me! Raichu and Quilava watch mudkip for me, please." Totodile danced over to them and followed behind.

As they got closer the noise got louder and more obnoxious, "Ash, what is that noise?"

"Come here and I'll show you," he knelt and pulled out his Pokedex.

" _Nincada, the Trainee Pokemon. Nincada lives most of its life inside the earth and uses its sharp claws to tap into roots extracting nutrients and moisture."_

"I'll show you how to capture a pokemon real fast," he got up and totodile stepped out in front of him catching the attention of the bug pokemon. It began to swipe at the air toward totodile to attempt to scare him off. Ash smiled, "Alright, totodile use ice fang!" The water type leapt at the bug with blue fangs emanating cold air. Nincada tried to dodge to the side, but totodile caught its back leg and caused the leg to frost over a bit. The bug made multiple attempts to swipe at the big jaw pokemon, but it was slowed down enough to give the water type time to dodge. "Use water gun!" On nincada's last swipe attempt, totodile jumped back a bit and launched a stream of water knocking the bug against a tree. "Go Pokeball!" Ash threw a pokeball and watched the sphere twitch three times before making the noise confirming he caught it. He went over and grabbed the ball and put it in his jacket. "See? It isn't too hard. Just get the pokemon weakened and throw a ball at it!" Ash smiled and picked up totodile, "Thanks a lot buddy!" Totodile affectionately danced in Ash's arms before running back to the other pokemon at the pond.

"So, I just need to find a pokemon I want and go after it?"

"Basically, although that's just my method. I know trainers who catch just about every pokemon they encounter for a variety," Ash walked back and sat on the bank of the pond.

"Okay! Well thank you Ash!" She sat next to him and shot him a kind smile. "So, when would you like to continue our trek?"

Ash leaned back, "Here in a minute, I want to give my pokemon a chance to relax outside of their pokeballs, but I want to get nincada to the Pokemon Center in Petalburg too."

After Ash had returned everyone minus mudkip and raichu, the two trainers continued the trek to Petalburg. Ash continued to battle and train while trying to help May catch a pokemon. Eventually, she caught a wurmple after a taillow ran from her.

* * *

After about another couple of hours, May noticed the city coming up through the part in the tree line, "There it is!"

Ash looked to where she pointed and saw several small buildings filling the sides of the road further ahead leading to a few larger buildings in the distance, "Alright! Let's pick up the pace then!" Ash began to run forcing May to keep up.

Just as they neared the city, Ash heard someone yell out back in the tree line.

May caught up to Ash, who had stopped in his tracks, and looked to where Ash was looking, "Why did we stop Ash?"

"I thought I heard someone yell," he began to make his way toward the tree line when he heard it again, but this time a lot more clearly.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"

Without hesitation, he and raichu bolted through the trees with May playing catch up. They made it through and stopped just short of a clearing behind some bushes. Ash saw a tall figure and a skarmory standing over two smaller figures. One was a boy about eleven with tea green hair wearing a gray sweater, light khaki pants, and white shoes though his clothes are much dirtier than they probably were earlier. The other small figure was a ralts, one of the pokemon that Ash studied up on a lot back home.

As the taller figure walked closer to the two on the ground, the light from the sun began to show his features a little better. He had long, black hair slicked back and a black goatee. He had on a brown trench coat with a white button down on underneath, blue jeans, brown boots, and a brown leather eye patch over his right eye. With each step, the boy crawled away trying to stay between the man and the ralts, "Come on kid, you don't have enough training to compete with my skarmory. Let me have your ralts and I promise you won't be too severely maimed."

The man's evil smile was enough to give May the chills, but Ash continued to watch and glare at the man. Ash turned to May and whispered, "Go get the police. I'm staying here to make sure he doesn't get away."

She was surprised that Ash didn't sound the least bit nervous or scared but nodded and ran toward the city.

"Kid, I'm giving you a chance to save yourself some pain. Make the smart decision," he continued toward them with his skarmory walking around to the other side.

"N-no! I'm not giving up ralts! H-he's my friend and you can't have him!" The boy was doing his best to sound brave but the tears running down his face told another story.

The man sighed, "That's too bad, and I was going to let you go home alive too." He looked to his pokemon, "Skarmory take to the air!"

Skarmory began to rise in the air and circle his target. Ash quickly grabbed a ball from his jacket, "Quilava use flamethrower!" The volcano pokemon jumped out of the bushes and launch a stream of flames toward the bird.

"Skarmory dodge!" The armor bird pokemon banked to the left just missing the attack. "Who's out there?! Show yourself!" Ash walked out of the bushes without his bag, raichu, or mudkip. The man laughed, "A kid? Seriously?" He continued to laugh, "I don't know why you are trying to play hero, but you should move along before I decide to take your Quilava too."

"I'm not going anywhere; I won't stand by and let you take this kid's pokemon," Ash kept his focus on the evil man.

The man sighed once more, "Stupid kids today, you should learn when someone is letting you off the hook." He pulled another pokeball from his jacket, "Come on out Kangaskhan!" The normal type materialized before him.

Ash also grabbed a ball from his jacket, "Come help heracross!" The single horn pokemon appeared and began to size up his opponents.

"Oh good, you know type advantages," he slow clapped for Ash, "That won't help you here kid. Skarmory use air slash on the bug; Kangaskhan use fake out on the Quilava!"

"Heracross use double team and follow it up with brick break on the kangaskhan! Quilava dodge and use flamethrower once more!"

As skarmory launched the flying type attack, heracross split into multiple copies of himself effectively dodging the attack and began to head for the normal type.

Kangaskhan ran for the fire type with hands glowing orange. Quilava tried to jump out of the way, but the parent pokemon clapped its hands together and sent a shockwave toward the fire type pushing him back and stopping his attack. Unfortunately for the normal type, skarmory missed its target allowing heracross to blind side her with a strong brick break.

"Skarmory use steel wing to knock that bug away!" The bird shot toward heracross with glowing white wings and connected sending him back toward Ash. "Not bad kid, but I'm just getting started! Skarmory begin storing power! Kangaskhan use mega punch to keep them away!"

Skarmory's body began to glow a light orange signaling to Ash what was coming, "Quilava use flame wheel and stop skarmory! Heracross keep kangaskhan busy with megahorn!"

The bug/fighting type launch himself at the normal type with his horn glowing green. The parent pokemon launched a glowing white fist clashing hard with the powerful bug attack knocking it back a bit. She saw the quilava heading for skarmory but didn't have enough time to launch another mega punch; so, she dove in front of the attack instead. Quilava couldn't change course in time causing the attack to be delivered to the wrong opponent.

Skarmory cried out signaling it was done, "Here we go! Skarmory use sky attack!" The glowing bird launched out of the air and dove toward the single horn pokemon.

"Heracross look out!" Ash tried to get his pokemon out of the way, but he didn't react fast enough. He watched as the bird closed in on heracross as he tried to move out of the way.

As soon as skarmory got within a few yards of heracross, a white stream of flames shot out of the trees to the left connecting with the steel/flying type sending it to the ground. "Skarmory!" The armor bird pokemon tried to get up but couldn't muster the strength after such a powerful fire type attack. "Who else do you have out here with you kid?!"

Ash smirked, "That was most likely a police officer's growlithe! You are finished!"

The man returned his skarmory and started to back away, "Conniving little brat! I'll make you pay the next time I see you! Kangaskhan return!" The man then turned and began to run.

Ash was about to send heracross after the man but stopped when he saw the man halt in front of a houndoom. "A houndoom? I didn't know the police use them."

The dark/fire type surrounded itself in a dark aura and launched into the man knocking him on the ground and winding him.

"Ash, are you okay?!" May rushed through the bushes followed by raichu, mudkip, two officers, and their electrike. She heard the thud of something hitting the ground and was scared Ash bit off more than he could chew.

"I'm fine May," Ash turned and smiled calming her worry. He looked back to his opponent and saw the man on the ground, but the houndoom had disappeared from the area. Ash looked around to the surrounding trees and could have sworn he saw the silhouette of someone walking behind a tree but couldn't find it again. Looking back to the clearing, he saw that the boy and his ralts had passed out at some point during the battle. He quickly ran over to the boy, "May grab my bag and mudkip! We need to get this kid and his ralts medical attention!" Ash and heracross scooped up the boy and his ralts and began running back for the road into the city with May, raichu, and quilava following behind them.

* * *

After a couple of hours in the waiting area in the pokemon center, Nurse Joy walked over to the couches in the lobby where Ash and May were resting. "Excuse me Mr. Ketchum?"

Ash looked up at the Nurse, raising his head from his hands, "Are they both alright?"

The pink haired woman gave a comforting smile, "They will both be just fine. They are lucky you got them here quick enough to prevent any wounds from getting infected."

Ash felt relieved and a weight lift off his shoulders, "That's good to hear!"

May also relaxed into the couch holding torchic close to her, "When will they be able to leave?"

"We will need them to stay here a couple more nights for observation. From what I overheard you tell the police officer, that boy and his ralts could use the rest anyway." She turned on her heel and headed back to her desk.

"Well, now that we know they will be alright, we should probably get you back to your house before your parents really begin to worry," Ash grabbed his bag and mudkip, who had fallen asleep.

"Yeah, you're right," May mimicked his motion and led him out of the door of the Pokemon Center.

* * *

After a few minutes of walking, May and Ash stood outside of a good size building with a home attached to the side, "Um, May?"

"Yes Ash?" May looked at him quizzically.

"I don't recall you telling me what your parents did for a living."

May smiled at him and began to walk to the house portion, "I didn't."

Upon hearing the door open to the home, Ash saw a brown-haired woman wrap May in a tight hug. Torchic just barely managed to dodge out of the way, "Oh May! We were so worried! We thought you might've gotten lost or hurt!"

May struggled against the tight hold, "I'm fine mom!"

A man's voice entered from behind the woman, "Your mother was worried, but I knew you would be alright!"

The woman let go of May and turned around, "Who was the one preparing a rescue party?"

The man chuckled before walking up and hugging May as well, "It's good to have you home sweetie! Was the trip successful?"

May sweat dropped and laughed, "Well, kind of. I did get some help on the way back!"

"You did?" The man looked genuinely surprised.

"Yeah! My new friend Ash helped me out!" May moved over and pulled Ash forward.

"Uh, Hello there Mr. and Mrs. Maple!" Ash tried to give his best greeting under pressure from getting thrust into the middle of the reunion.

May's mom clapped her hands together, "That's wonderful! Please don't be shy, come right in! You can join us for dinner!" May's mother led the way through the home to the dining room and motioned Ash to sit down.

After a wonderful meal and some explanation of the events that had transpired in the last twenty-four-ish hours, May, Ash, May's little brother Max, her mom Caroline, and her father Norman sat around the table in idle conversation. Norman, taking a swig of his water, turned his attention to Ash, "So, what brings you to the Hoenn region?"

"Oh, I came to challenge the league conference here," Ash answered with an excited smile while mudkip rested in his lap.

"The conference you say? Well, I look forward to meeting you on the field in the near future.

Ash looked at him confused, "Are you a trainer as well?"

Max chuckled, "You came to the region and can't recognize the Petalburg City gym leader?"

Ash wanted to give Max an annoyed glare but thought better of it. He turned his attention back to Norman, "That explains the larger building next door."

"I thought you would be surprised to find that out," May chuckled at his realization.

"Wait, does that mean I can challenge you for a badge right now?" Ash began to get riled up and pumped.

"Well, probably not tonight, but we can tomorrow if you like! Though, it depends which gym route you want to take," Norman smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Which gym route I want to take?" Ash looked confused but tried to think back to his studies on Hoenn.

Caroline spoke up to help him out, "Gym routes are just what trainers in the region call them. It is just the order in which you want to challenge the gyms of the region."

Ash understood that a bit better, "That makes sense. Is there a particular route that is better or worse?"

"Not really," Norman answered with a smile. "Some trainers believe it doesn't matter which order you face the gym leaders in; while other trainers from other regions or ones just starting out prefer to take what they call the True Hoenn Gym Challenge." Ash gave him another confused expression.

"The _'True Hoenn Gym Challenge'_ follows the order new trainers starting in Littleroot Town use to take. The order is as follows: Roxanne in Rustboro, Brawley in Dewford, Wattson in Mauville, Flannery in Lavaridge, Dad here in Petalburg, Winona in Fortree, Liza and Tate in Mossdeep, and Juan in Sootopolis," May finished the list with an overexaggerated deep breath.

Ash chuckled before mulling over the list of names, "Wait, I thought Wallace was the gym leader in Sootopolis City."

"He was up until this past league conference. He said he would be stepping down to help build up Pokemon Contests throughout the region and attempt to build up the Coordinator scene. In his stead, he left his right-hand man Juan in charge of the gym," Norman nodded at his own explanation as if agreeing with himself.

"Does that mean the gym has changed type?"

"No, Juan has said it will remain a water type gym."

Ash nodded at this information, "Well, I guess since trainers first starting out in Hoenn take that route, I will as well! I guess that makes my battle with you a bit of a proving ground before I take on the remaining gym leaders!"

Norman's smile grew into a more competitive look, "If that is the way you want to view it; I will make sure I prepare my best team for you."

"Don't count on beating dad! He is the best gym leader in the region and has the record to prove it!" Max follows his statement up with a cocky smirk.

"Max, what have I said about gloating?" Norman gave a stern look to Max who just looked down.

"Gloating doesn't win battles," the boy got up from the table and slowly walks out of the room.

May sighs, "Sorry about that Ash, Max is a bit of a pain. He views other trainers that challenge Dad as incompetent or worthless and lets them know it."

"It's fine, I just hope he doesn't do that when he becomes a trainer. I have met a lot of people who wouldn't take kindly to that attitude," Ash stretched back in his seat before looking outside and realizing how dark it had gotten. "Aw man, I can't believe its gotten so late. I was hoping to get part of the way through the next route tonight."

"Oh, we're sorry, we didn't mean to keep you!" May's mom gave a sorrowful look before an idea came to her, "If you don't have a place to stay tonight, you can stay in the spare room in the gym! We have a spare mattress and it'll give your pokemon a place to sleep out of there pokeballs!"

Ash wasn't expecting such a warming offer, "Oh no, I don't want to intrude on you. You all have already treated me to dinner, asking for a place to sleep would be rude."

"But you didn't ask, we offered," Norman smiled at the young man's sincerity, "Besides, that room goes unused most of the time; so, you aren't putting us out if you stay there tonight."

Ash looked between the members of the family before sighing in defeat, "Well, if you insist I appreciate it!"

"Good! May, help Ash get set up for the evening please!"

"Will do mom! Follow me Ash, I'll take you on a tour of the gym on the way!"

As the two of them left the room, Norman turned to his wife, "Caroline, I know what you are trying to do."

Caroline let out a giggle, "Oh don't spoil my fun. Besides, when is the next time a kind and caring young man is going to be brought home by May?"

"Hopefully not for a long time!"


	4. The Mysterious Woods

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.**

 **The Mysterious Woods**

"It won't be far now," Ash paused for a moment to take in the view. The past couple of days through light forest and grassy plains hadn't been horrible, but the beach scenery was a welcome change of pace. The sun shining on the waves as they crashed on to the white sand, the noise of the groups of people and pokemon lounging along the beach, and the calm breeze coming off the water. "How does a break on the beach sound?" Raichu and mudkip cried out in approval, "Alright then! Everyone, come on out!"

Ash sat on the beach, jacket off and pant legs rolled up, with quilava, bayleef, and noctowl resting around him. Further ahead of him, heracross was helping raichu train while totodile, mudkip, and nincada played in the sand. Ash smiled and laid down using his sleeping bag as a pillow.

After about an hour of resting, something appeared over Ash blocking out the sun. He opened his eyes and saw a boy about nine or ten looking down at him, "Uh, hi? Can I help you?"

The boy nodded his head and backed up a couple of steps, "I-I'm sorry to bother you, but you're a pokemon trainer, right?" Ash sat up and nodded. The boy clenched his fists, "Um, w-would you like to have a pokemon battle?"

Ash smiled at the boy's wavering confidence, "Sure thing!" Ash got up and stuck his hand out, "What's your name?"

"M-my name's Jr, nice to meet you!" The boy awkwardly shook Ash's hand.

"Well Jr, let me select a pokemon and I'll be ready. Where would you like to have this battle?"

The boy pointed over to a middle-aged couple and a teenage boy, "my family is over there. M-my dad said he would ref the battle if you agreed!"

Ash nodded, "Sounds like you thought of everything! I'll be over there in a moment!" Ash watched the boy excitedly run back over to his family. _'I wonder why he was so nervous.'_ He walked over to mudkip, nincada, and totodile, "Hey mudkip, you ready to get some battle experience?"

"Mudkip!" The water type jumped into Ash's arms and crawled up to his shoulder.

"Good! If anyone else wants to come feel free, otherwise we'll be back," Ash began heading over to the boy and his family with raichu, heracross, totodile, and nincada following behind.

As Ash approached, the man looked up at the approaching teen, "You must be the challenger!"

Ash smiled and scratched the back of his head, "I guess that depends on your point of view. I'm Ash, nice to meet you."

The man shook his hand, "Pleasure to meet you Ash, but there was no need to introduce yourself, our youngest son told us all about you."

"Uh, really?" Ash looked at the young boy.

The woman spoke, "Oh yes, you are quite the celebrity to Jr here. He watched all of your matches at the Silver conference."

Ash grew an embarrassed look, "Oh, I'm not really a celebrity. I didn't even win."

"But you were so cool during your matches! Your match against Gary was the best of the whole conference!" Jr shouted almost every word before quickly covering his mouth.

Ash chuckled at the boy's embarrassment, "Well I appreciate it!"

"Oh, I'm Christopher Sr. by the way. This is my wife Marie, my oldest son Chase, and you have already met my youngest."

Ash nodded his head politely, "It's nice to meet you!" He then turns to his opponent, "You ready for this battle?"

Jr nodded vigorously, "Y-yes sir!"

Ash walked a good distance from his opponent. _'It's kinda cool. I don't think I have ever met a fan before.'_ Ash turned and smiled at the boy who challenged him.

"This is a one-on-one battle between Jr and Ash. Trainers please send out your pokemon," Jr's dad gave each trainer a signal.

"Let's do this mudkip!" The water type jumped off Ash's shoulder and landed five feet in front of him.

"Come on, sandshrew!" The boy threw out a pokeball and the ground type appeared in a flash of light.

Jr's dad raised his arms, "Battle begin!"

"Sandshrew use the sand-attack combo!"

"I don't know what that means, but mudkip use water gun to counter!" Sandshrew began throwing sand in the direction of mudkip, who in turn just used its water gun to keep the sand away. A cloud of sand formed around sandshrew and by the time the attack was over the mouse pokemon had disappeared.

Ash saw the boy smile and caught on quickly to his plan, "Mudkip, jump up and use ancient power on the sand beneath you!" The water type did as was told, formed, and launched the silver glowing orb into the ground underneath him.

Jr panicked, "Sandshrew jump out quickly!" The attack hit the ground and launched sandshrew out of his burrow underneath with force. "Sandshrew, are you okay?" The mouse nodded back with a few scratches on its back, "Okay, use rollout!"

"Keep it out of reach, use water gun!" Mudkip began launching a water torrent at the approaching ground type, but the water didn't seem to affect the momentum of the attack resulting in mudkip getting knocked backward and rolling to a stop before getting back on its feet.

"Again sandshrew!"

Ash watched the ground type wheel around for a second pass, "Mudkip jump when I say so." The water type nodded but looked nervously at the oncoming sandshrew. As the pokemon got within a five feet Ash yelled out, "Now!" The mud fish pokemon used all its might and jumped dodging the attack. "Now, use mud-slap!" Mudkip breathed in and launched a stream of mud from its mouth connecting with the ground type and sending it crashing into the sand.

"Sandshrew!" The mouse was quick back to its feet but was shaking its head vigorously trying to get mud out of its eyes.

"This is our chance mudkip, use tackle and follow it up with water gun!" The water type sped off toward the flailing pokemon.

"Sandshrew use poison sting!" The panic in Jr's voice didn't help the already uneasy ground type, but it did as commanded and launched the poison attack in a general direction.

Mudkip easily dodged the attack and connected with sandshrew's stomach launching the mouse backward. He quickly followed it up with a water gun and sent the ground type back to his trainer's feet unable to get up from the super-effective attack.

"Sandshrew is unable to battle. The winners of this match are mudkip and Ash!"

Mudkip turned and jumped into Ash's arms, "Good job buddy!" The water type climbed back up to Ash's shoulder and nuzzled against his cheek.

"I'm sorry sandshrew, I should've helped you out more than just having you use a move," Jr pet sandshrew on the head before returning him. "That was a good strategy at the beginning!" The boy looked up to see that Ash had already walked across the makeshift field, "It wasn't good enough to throw you off though."

"I wouldn't say that, it still confused me for a moment," Ash held out his hand and pulled the boy to his feet. "Clearly you and sandshrew have been working on that combination for a while. Sandshrew's ability is sand veil right?" Jr nodded, "Then work hard and you and sandshrew will get to a point where y'all can make use of the move sandstorm. That move combo'd with dig will be virtually unbeatable."

The boy looked at Ash with stars in his eyes, "You think so?"

"I do, maybe one day we can have a rematch at a league conference and you can show me how strong y'all have gotten!" Ash stuck out his hand and Jr shook his hand more firmly this time around.

"You got it Mr. Ash! I can't wait!" Ash was going to correct him but decided against it.

"Well, I should probably get going if I hope to reach Petalburg Woods before nightfall. It was nice to meet you all!" He walked back to his pokemon, gathered his things, and continued the trek to the dense woods.

* * *

Night had fallen quicker than Ash expected as he and raichu neared the more publicly used entrance to Petalburg Woods. The sun falling had caused the temperature to drop a few degrees, but it still felt nice with the slight breeze coming off the ocean a good distance away. As the duo reached the wide part in the trees, a chill ran down Ash's spine causing him to quickly turn to his left. "Rai-rai?"

Ash looked down at his faithful starter, "It was nothing buddy, just a brief uneasy feeling." Ash shook his head and continued a little way into the woods before turning off the beaten path. After walking for another couple of miles, Ash laid down his gear and released his pokemon before laying out his sleeping bag and staring up at the stars in between the trees. While he laid there, he motioned noctowl down to him, "Hey noctowl, do you mind doing a pretty good-sized sweep of the area? I don't know what it is about this area, but It's giving me creeps." The bird nodded and flew into the night sky.

Ash awoke the next morning feeling well rested, much to his surprise. He looked around and saw all his pokemon were asleep; so, without making too much noise, he began his morning routine of making breakfast. After carefully choosing which berries to pick in the woods, he made a mash of berries and rice from packets he kept on hand. Raichu was the first to stir and quickly joined Ash in enjoying breakfast with the rest of the pokemon joining in throughout the morning.

After training for a couple of hours and giving noctowl some time to rest, he called the owl pokemon over to him, "You spot anything last night?" The owl pokemon hooted and shook her head. Ash sighed in relief, "That makes me feel a bit better. Guess I was just tired and my mind was playing tricks on me."

Ash gathered his things and returned everyone minus raichu and noctowl, "We probably have another couple of days or so in this forest before we make it to the road north of here leading to Rustboro. In that time, we should probably help Prof. Birch like we promised." Raichu and noctowl both agreed, "Alright, according to the professor we should be on the look out for a disappearing figure of a boy around my age, a rhyhorn that has made the forest its home, and random spikes in electricity. I figure the first one might be a ghost type living here and the last one I'm going to need you to focus for buddy."

"Rai-rai," Raichu climbed up on Ash's backpack and sat against the trainer's head with his eyes closed.

"Noctowl, I would like you to fly above us and keep watch for either of the first two things." The flying type nodded and ascended to the sky.

As Ash began to look for a lunch spot to take a break, noctowl flew down quickly and gesturing that she found something, "Alright! Come on raichu!" As the two moved through the dense bushes and trees, he saw noctowl had perched herself in a tree facing a not as dense area of the forest. Ash moved aside some branches and caught sight of what noctowl had found, some gray spikes moving behind some more bushes just barely in view. He pulled out his pokedex and lined the camera up with the spikes: _"Rhyhorn, the spikes pokemon. Rhyhorn's brain is very small. It is so dense, while on a run it forgets why it started running in the first place. It apparently remembers sometimes if it demolishes something."_

"Huh, that's a mean entry," Ash reread the entry again and looked up at the moving spikes, "I kinda feel bad for it. That's probably how it got here and can't remember how to get home." He got up and moved around the pokemon to where he and raichu were approaching from the front with noctowl watching from the trees nearby. "Hey there rhyhorn."

The pokemon stopped grazing and looked up at the approaching trainer. It stepped back one step and locked eyes with Ash and raichu.

Ash stopped, slowly pulled out an oran berry, and rolled it to the rock type. Rhyhorn sniffed it and carefully took a bite, not breaking eye contact with the trainer. "See? I'm not going to hurt you," Ash gave the pokemon a friendly smile before he took one more step toward the pokemon.

"Ah, I see you are makin' friends!" Ash and raichu jumped and quickly turned around to face the voice, but there wasn't anyone behind him. "I hope that's the case at least. It would suck for you if you were plannin' on trying to capture my rhyhorn."

Ash turned back toward the rhyhorn and just behind him stood a boy roughly his age. He had piercing gray eyes and dark brown hair buzzed up the sides and the top cut short though it still moved with the wind through the trees. He looked about Ash's height and wore tan jeans, a black and white three-quarter sleeve shirt, and gray sneakers. Probably the most unusual thing about the guy was the abra just sitting on his shoulders with its arms wrapped around his head.

"N-no! I wasn't planning on capturing him. I just thought he might've gotten lost or something. I heard about a wild rhyhorn in the woods and figured he was the one!" Ash quickly blurted out the answer hoping the guy would believe him with raichu doing the same.

He chuckled, "Wow, I have never heard a pokemon and trainer say the exact same thing before at the exact same time. That's some impressive chemistry!" The teen began to pet his rhyhorn before returning him to his pokeball.

"T-thanks," Ash looked taken aback by the sudden change of tone before realizing what he said, "Wait, did you say you heard me and raichu?"

He got back up to face Ash, "Yeah, abra here translates what pokemon say into my head using telepathy. Pretty handy in certain situations!"

"Yeah, I'll say," Ash then realized he hadn't introduced himself, "oh, I'm Ash by the way, Ash Ketchum!"

The dark-haired guy smiled at him, "Nice to meet ya! I'm Jackson Young, but my friends call me Jack!"

"Nice to meet ya as well," Ash shook Jack's hand and called noctowl down and returned her. "So, if you don't mind me asking, why was your rhyhorn just out in the woods?"

"Well, I don't like to keep him locked up in his ball if I can help it; so, I let him just roam the woods while we are stayin' here," he opened his arms and gestured to the trees around him.

"Oh, y'all are camping out here?" Jack nodded, "How long have y'all been here?"

Jack leaned against a tree and put his hand to his chin, "Hmm, a good while now. Probably a couple of months."

Ash and raichu's jaws dropped, "Seriously?! Are these woods that easy to get lost in?!"

Jack looked at him confused before realizing what he said, "Oh, no," he shook his head and hands vigorously. "It's actually pretty easy to get through here to the northern part of route 104. It is quite long though."

Ash and raichu both sighed in relief, "That's not too bad. So, why have you been here so long?"

Jack was about to answer, but his stomach beat him to the punch, "Heh, mind if I tell you over lunch?"

* * *

Ash and raichu had followed Jack further off the beaten path to an area next to a creek where the trees opened a little. After Jack made sandwiches for him and ash, he sent his rhyhorn back out and poured some premade food for the two pokemon present, "So, you are from Kanto? We aren't too far apart if that's the case!"

Ash took a bite of his sandwich, "Oh? Are you from Kanto too?"

Jack shook his head, "Nah, I'm from Johto, Cianwood City to be specific!"

"Oh yeah? I guess we aren't too far apart, though it would still be a bit of a journey," Ash took another bite and pulled out his water bottle.

"Yeah, but ain't nothing wrong with a good journey," Jack smiled and finshed his sandwich off. He pulled a thermos from his bag and poured a sweet-smelling drink into a small cup. "So, I assume you are here to challenge the Pokemon League?"

"You got it," Ash moved back to rest against a tree, "How about you?"

"Maybe," he answered as he took a swig of his drink, "That hasn't been decided yet."

"Why is that?" Ash answered confused by the statement.

"Oh, just giving it some thought, that's all," Jack rubbed the back of his head as he answered before getting a great idea. "Say Ash, you travelin' the region with just your pokemon?"

Ash nodded, "I use to travel with a couple of friends, but they had responsibilities thrust on them."

"I see, I see," the brown-haired boy put his hand to his chin and closed his eyes before suddenly slamming his hand on the ground, "I got an offer for ya!"

Ash jumped slightly at the outburst, "What's the offer?"

Jack put on a confident smile, "Mind accompanying me to Rustboro City? I have an errand I gotta run and could use the extra hands."

Ash looked over to raichu who shrugged in return, "I'm heading there to challenge the gym anyway, so it doesn't bother me!"

"Sweet!" Jack did a small victory dance before pulling out a yellow device pressing a few buttons on it before putting it back in his pocket, "Alright, once the pokemon are ready we will go pick up the package I gotta deliver from my team!"

"Your team?" Ash remembered that news report from a few days back about the two Teams, Aqua and Magma.

"Yeah?" Jack looked at him confused before reading the look on his face. "Oh no, I'm a part of a small team of trainers. We aren't in cahoots with Aqua or Magma or anything like that!" He exaggerated some hand motions hoping to fix what might have been a horrible misunderstanding. Ash seemed to accept the answer letting Jack relax, "Alrighty then, follow me and we will knock this out."

* * *

Ash began to question agreeing to helping after about a couple hours of what felt like aimless wandering through the dense woods. On the positive side, Ash did get to see some new pokemon along the way and got to learn a little more about his new acquaintance. From the stories he was told, Ash deduced that Jack might be the disappearing boy so many people reported. In addition, he learned Jack took on the Silver Conference two years ago but decided to take a year off from gym battles and train on his own after not making it past the qualifier.

"I guess it helps to have a full team, but I only had caught three up to that point," Jack chuckled a little.

"That's still impressive you beat that many gyms with just three pokemon!"

"I guess," Jack didn't look back after that statement. "I just wasn't a hundred percent in it, but after battling several trainers in this region, I feel more energized about trying again!"

"Well that's good to hear! Have you caught any more pokemon since you've been living here?"

"Yeah, I've caught a couple more! Actually, abra here is one of my more recent team additions!"

"Really? He must be quite the find. I have only seen one other psychic type in the wild to this point!"

"Oh, I didn't find him around here. There is an area of the region where abra appear more commonly, it's just not attached to the mainland!" As Jack finished his quick explanation, he stopped suddenly, "Here we are!"

Ash and raichu looked between the brown-haired boy and the run-down shack he was gesturing to, "Uh, this is it? It looks like it has been rotting away for quite some time."

"Looks can be deceiving!" Jack walked up to a boulder left of the doorway of the shack. Ash watched as he placed his hand on the rock and pushed causing the rock to sink slightly and the ground to begin rumbling slightly.

"What's happening?!" Ash and raichu both watched with concern and curiosity as part of the floor in the shack began to rise slowly. A few moments later, a cylindrical lift sat in the middle of the ratty shack.

Jack walked forward and turned around to face Ash from the lift, "Well? You comin'?"

Ash slapped his face a couple times, "Uh, yeah sure!" He walked in, with raichu climbing up to sit on his backpack.

"Going down!" Jack yelled out as they began to descend. As soon as the lift stopped, a pair of doors slid open revealing a loft. Several pokemon of varying species appeared in view from a bug pokemon Ash didn't recognize playing with a wobbuffet to a magneton and voltorb shocking a metal rod repeatedly. "I'm back guys and I brought company!"

"Oh? Did you meet a disappearing girl in the forest?" Ash looked over and saw the source of the sarcastic voice was another boy around his age hunched over a metal table.

"Griff, do you even know what a girl looks like?" Jack shot back with a bit of venom in his voice.

"You know what? Just for that comment I'm not upgrading your PokeNav!" The boy turned around and pointed a small screwdriver in Jack's direction. Ash got a better look at the boy. He had shorter light brown hair, green eyes, a black t-shirt on with a worker's jumpsuit on with the top half tied around his waist, tan boots, and black and yellow work gloves. The sleeve of the jumpsuit had writing on it, but Ash couldn't make out the words.

"What?! You started this! You can't get mad at me for my comment!" Jack stormed over to the Griff.

"Oh yes I can! Who is the one with the knowledge and experience to upgrade it?" Griff slammed the screwdriver down on the table and stepped up to Jack.

"Who's the one that got you out of trouble with Magma two weeks ago?!" Ash looked around and saw that all the pokemon had stopped what they were doing.

"I had that under control! You just wanted the credit for stopping those grunts!"

"HA, don't make me laugh! If it wasn't for _me_ you would've gotten magneton hurt!" Jack pointed directly to the magnet pokemon not far away.

Ash saw Griff's fist clench at that last comment and started to panic. _'Oh crap! What do I do?! If I try to break it up I might get mixed in, but if I don't they might beat each other senseless!'_ As he was debating in his head, another voice came from a doorway.

"Cut it out!" The two teens turned to the doorway, "We have things we actually need to do; you two don't have time to waste on pointless arguing." The two muttered under their breath before Griff went back to his work table and Jack walked over to a room off the loft. The teenage boy belonging to the voice in the doorway walked over to Ash. He stood slightly taller than Ash with close-cut sandy blonde hair. He had deep blue eyes and a quite fit physique. He wore khaki cargo pants, a lighter material gray shirt, tan hiking boots, and a pair of aviator style sunglasses on his head. "Sorry about those two, they don't have the friendliest relationship."

"Oh, its fine! I'm just glad you could stop them!" The guy just shrugged as he pinched the bridge of his nose out of frustration, "By the way, I'm Ash, Ash Ketchum!"

"I'm Holden Reese, nice to meet you!" Ash tried to match the grip of Holden to little avail. "Since Jack didn't get to," Holden outstretched his arms to the loft, "Welcome to our little hideout!"

"Oh right! Thanks for having me!" Ash looked around at some of the different equipment and items in the loft.

"It's no big deal! I'm just happy to have a little extra help!" He gave Ash a friendly smile before motioning him to sit.

"Oh yeah, Jack mentioned something about running an errand in Rustboro?" Ash and Raichu sat on a couch across from Holden while the teen handed him a bottle of water from a mini fridge.

"Right you are! Just need an extra set of hands to deliver that box in the corner," he motioned to a box near Griff's work table. "With the Aqua/Magma war going on and the current frequency of battles, our 'sponsor' would be more comfortable with an extra experienced battler assisting the delivery."

Ash looked at him with surprise, "Is it really that bad? I know I saw a news bulletin about a battle outside Meteor Falls, but I figured at was just a freak encounter."

Holden took a swig of water, "I'm afraid so, there have also been sightings of team members from both sides in the forest here lately. I figure they were trying to figure out where the electricity spikes were coming from assuming it to be some powerful pokemon; so, I had Griff cut back on work for the package for our sponsor."

Ash and raichu looked at each other and then to the teen opposite them, "Just one quick question," Holden nodded for him to continue, "What exactly am I helping deliver? I hope I'm not overstepping my boundaries by asking, but I would like to have a bit of peace of mind before I commit fully to this."

Holden eyed Ash and raichu over a minute before giving him a smirk, "Can't say I blame you for wanting to know. Griff toss me the other prototype!" The teen reached down and then threw a small, red device to Holden. He held it out in front of Ash, "This is the item to be delivered. Well, this one would be if it was anywhere close to finished. Have you heard of the PokeNav?" Ash gave him a so-so motion, "Well, a PokeNav is a neat little device that can show you maps for areas, landmarks, let you send messages, make calls, and several other things. This right here is one of Griff's prototypes for a potential PokeNav Plus, the name is a work in progress."

"So, pretty much it will be able to do everything a PokeNav can in addition to other features?"

The teen nodded, "Pretty much. The features that the current PokeNav can do would be improved upon with newer hardware and software. So, maps would be a bit more detailed and cleaner, calls would be clearer and would have a function for video calls just like the phones and transfer systems in Pokemon Centers, and several other new features that Griff has not told me I'm sure." He took another swig of his water, "the sponsor of this device Griff made doesn't want it to fall into the hands of criminals who might use the device specs to mass produce it to fuel whatever their end game is."

"Okay! That makes sense," raichu nodded in agreement. "So, when do we need to leave with Jack to deliver the PokeNav Plus?"

Holden scratched his chin, "How much longer on the one you said would be ready by the deadline Griff?"

The light brown-haired teen looked over the device on the table and the sheet of paper next to him, "Give me 'til this evening and I'll have it ready."

Holden turned back to Ash, "Does that work out fine for you?"

Ash looked to raichu then back to Holden, "Sure that's fine!"

"Excellent! Well, feel free to use the lift to explore the forest above or chill down here!" Holden shook Ash's hand again before heading back into what he assumed to be his room.

The next few hours Ash spent hanging out with Jack learning more about the various paths and areas of the forest. Everything from strange moss-covered rocks to random shrines to various pokemon, one of which Ash recognized from his chance meeting with the mythical time traveler.

Around five PM, the lift ascended and came back down containing a new boy. He stood ever so slightly taller than Ash but looked a small bit younger and had lightly tanned skin with green eyes and a light brown fauxhawk. He wore faded blue jeans with a black t-shirt, black and gray boots, a dark green jacket with the sleeves rolled up, and black fingerless gloves. "I'm back!"

"Just in time! I figured you were going to run late," Jack got up and met the other boy for a mildly complex handshake.

"Nah, I was just keeping watch in the forest today," he noticed behind Jack an unfamiliar mouse and boy sitting on the couch. "Is he the new guy you texted me about?"

"Yep! This is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and his raichu!" Ash got up upon introduction and shook the boy's hand.

"The same Ash Ketchum from this last Sliver Conference?" Ash just gave a humble nod, "Well, it's awesome to meet ya! I'm Austin Glas from Alto Mare!" Ash looked as if he was about to ask Austin a question before he got cut off by the boy, "Jonthan! Good to see ya!"

Ash looked over and saw another guy his age had snuck into the room. He stood a few inches taller with tanned skin as well. He was quite the unusual sight, but apparently Ash was the only one who looked at all thrown off. The teen had dark brown eyes with a similarly colored small afro. He wore a gray shirt and yellow baggy gym shorts with two thin black stripes down the sides, black flip-flops, a yellow and black bandana around his head, and an over-sized white lab coat.

"Come over here and meet Ash!" Austin urged the other teen, but he didn't move. He just stood and looked at Ash like he was studying him. "Don't mind him, he isn't a big people person." Ash nodded in understanding and gave the teen a friendly wave to little avail. He noticed a weedle poke its head out of the lab coat, but this weedle was a lot more brightly colored than any other weedle he had seen before.

Before he could ask about the differently colored pokemon, Holden came out of his room, "Ah good, everyone is here! Gather 'round!" He motioned everyone to the couches and brought out a laptop that he laid on the coffee table. "This will be our last formal meeting before we all head out on our journeys! Just remember, while you are getting stronger and traveling around, our sponsor has requested you keep an eye and ear out for anything unusual in the region and any movement or sightings of either Team throughout the region," Ash watched all the guys nod their heads. "Now, I would like to extend a thank you to Ash for helping Jack with our delivery, which should be ready here shortly?" Holden looked to Griff for confirmation.

"Yeah, I'll be done once we are done with this," Griff sat with the bug type Ash PokeDex identified as a volbeat in his lap.

"Perfect! Now, to make sure we cover our bases in the region we will need someone to take on Pokemon Contests for the group. Since no one wanted to volunteer, I had Griff make a program to randomly select the person participating," Holden looked up noticing a concerned expression, "Don't worry Jonthan, I know pokemon battles and contests aren't your thing; so, you aren't included in this. You will still have to travel though." Ash looked over and saw the teen in the lab coat nod in thanks.

"Now, any questions?" Holden looked the room over a couple of times. "Alright, let's boot this program up and knock this out!" He pulled up a window that had everyone's head shot present minus Ash and Jonthan's.

Ash watched the teen hit a key and the various headshots light up rapidly in no particular order before it finally slowed down and landed on Holden's headshot. "YES!" Jack and Austin both exclaimed at the same time.

Holden sighed and hung his head slightly before turning to face the others, "Well, looks like I have the dubious honor of taking on contests. This just means you three that are taking on the league better make it to the Ever Grande Conference!" Griff, Jack, and Austin nodded to their leader. "With that out of the way, I wish you all good luck!"

* * *

Not long following the end of the meeting, everyone left the old shack hideout and went in separate directions with Ash, Jack, and raichu left with the box to deliver. "I don't know why they were so adamant about getting their journeys started tonight with it being so dark," Jack sighed.

"Same reason I rushed off on the last couple of mine probably! Just wanting to experience the journey and the paths it can take you," Ash offered while Jack checked the PokeNav in his palm.

"Well, we can set up camp a bit north of here and start on the trek to Rustboro bright and early! If that works for you."

"Sounds good to me!" Ash followed his new companion further into the dark, calm woods nearing closer to Rustboro City and his first gym badge.

* * *

 **Ash's current party: Quilava, Heracross, Raichu, Mudkip, Bayleef, Totodile, Noctowl, and Nincada.**


End file.
